How do you respond to "Christians are hypocrites"?

[Mountainmanbob]

There was a pastor at the grocery store that ran into a man that used to go to his church but, he had not seen in a long while.

The pastor asked of the man why have I not seen you in church lately?

The man stated that he has not came back because the church is full of a bunch of hypocrites.

The pastor smiled and said to the man, well then you should feel right at home there.

M-Bob

 

[TuxAme]

Right, but this answer isn't going to suffice a skeptic. They're just going to take it as you brushing them off.

Ask them what moral code (if any) that they adhere to, and you could simply reflect their statement back to them to prove its ludicrousness.

"I can't be a humanist/atheist/Buddhist/Utilitarian/etc. because they're all hypocrites".

This leaves them needing to defend why they are humanist/atheist/Buddhist/Utilitarian/etc. in spite of the hypocrisy practiced by their members, and why they hold Christianity to a higher standard than they're willing to impose on their own worldview.

 

[RDKirk]

In the West, we are dealing with a world in which everyone has heard of or gotten a taste of "Conquistador Christianity." As Roger Williams pointed out in the 1600s, a society in which Christianity brings social advantages has resulted in a polluted Church--because it's full of people who are merely seeking the social advantage.

The method of Conquistador Christianity is, first, to condemn: "You are a sinner and you are going to hell!" (as though any man could truthfully make that statement of someone else's eternal fate).

"Oh, but we must convict them of their sin before they can repent!"

No. Convicting the world of sin is the role of the Holy Spirit. The father enables some people to accept Jesus, and the Holy Spirit convicts them, burdens them, keeps them from rest.

The role of the Body of Christ is to continue to behave as Christ Himself behaved. This is kind of like "good cop, bad cop." While the Holy Spirit convicts a man of sin, the Body of Christ should be speaking the words of Christ:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

How many of us are giving witness to that? How many of us lead a conversation with what Jesus has done for us? That our souls are at rest, our burden has become easy?

But, no, the reputation of Christians is that we concentrate on everyone's sin (which the person still enslaved by sin can't recognize anyway) rather than on Jesus' call to rest.

So we start with a bad--but deserved--reputation to overcome. We overcome it with true witness: What has Jesus done for you?



Where is the Christian who can say to someone in the world, "Man, I was effed up. Until I discovered who Jesus is. Now I'm okay. I have a hope for the future. I've got something to be alive to do."

Then the person who is also feeling "effed up" will see why the Christian is hopeful, and will wonder if he can find that hope himself.

If you can't identify how Jesus has changed your life, put your soul at rest, eased your burden--then you can't identify a reason for your hope.

 

[Jonaitis]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

I would first ask what are the points in which he judges Christians as hypocritical, because there are people I've met who will bring up issues that aren't at all showing Christians to be so (eating pork, wearing two kinds of fabrics, and other OC laws). I then address these issues with such a crowd.

If it is about how we live morally, then I would say that if the reason they don't believe is because of people who profess to follow the Christian religion, then they had faith in people and not in God. That's not why you should be a Christian. If that is the reason, then we should renounce every name in every circumstance, because there will always be people who misrepresent that group.

 

[BenFTW]

I think it has to do with perception. The world sees Christianity as a set of rules and regulations (limitations) instead of seeing the Gospel, and grace of God. It very well may be our own fault. They see "I can't do this, I can't do that", instead of the reconciliation God offers to them through Christ.

Christianity is about our relationship with God being restored. Righteousness, holiness, and sanctification are secondary to that reconciliation. Once reconciled God will sanctify us throughout our lives, showing us the better way. Sin hurts, and while it may seem sweet for awhile it goes down bitter.

People are so concerned with forsaking sin, that they forget to first let people embrace God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Their sin as vile as it is, is no barrier between them and God because Christ is the propitiation, the appeasement to God's wrath against sin, for our sins and the world's.

God knows what is in the darkness, and He wants them in the light.

 

[friend of]

If it is about how we live morally, then I would say that if the reason they don't believe is because of people who profess to follow the Christian religion, then they had faith in people and not in God

Good point. Hadn't thought of it like that.

 

[BenFTW]

It is like people see Christianity in a legalistic fashion. They see hypocrites because they see some Christians not living up to the professed code (openly). If they only knew about the grace of God, they'd see that Jesus came for the sinner and that these people that fall short of the standard are being sanctified by God.

 

[fhansen]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

We can always fall back on, "God's not done with me yet", or, "You should've known me before I was Christian."

But there have been way too many people who've taken the ideal and grace offered them by the gospel and ran with it down through the centuries, loving their enemy in a world that generally wanted to vanquish him, volunteering countless hours of time and money to charity work, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, building orphanages and hospitals and schools and offering light and hope and love to a lost and dying world. It's very easy to minimize the good that Christianity has done, or emphasize the bad that some have done in the name of God, or to pontificate about how it should be, or should've been, or how "I" would do it, but it has been done-and is being done. Christianity virtually put altruism on the world map.

 

[SinoBen]

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

I would respond first by quoting an old Chinese proverb:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"

Then explain that being a Christian is like it, the journey is not alone but every step forward is a denial of self. Some Christians are further along than others in the journey, but all are the same in that Jesus is with them on the journey. Hebrews 12:2 Philippians 1:6

 

[Jonaitis]

Good point. Hadn't thought of it like that.

It is sad that our witness can be greatly damaged by the way we live, but that is never an excuse of their part to reject truth.

Even if the whole world opposes, a man with God is always in the majority.

 

[Monk Brendan]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

There are hypocrites among those who never set foot in a church and even among atheists.

 

[friend of]

Even if the whole world opposes, a man with God is always in the majority.

I would rather stand with the God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

Lets define:
A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

A Christian does not come under this definition when they are called a hypocrite. If one "pretends" to have a religious belief, they are not Christian. If one "pretends" to be moral, they are not Christian. If one "pretends" to have principles, they are not a Christian. Get the drift?
Christians are merely human and fall into sin just like everyone else. Weakness in the flesh is what we struggle with daily. So it would be best to explain what being a hypocrite really is- PRETENDING TO BE SOMETHING YOU ARE NOT. Christians do not pretend , they learn, grow, repent and are forgiven. Something that is not available to a non believer.
Blessings

 

[vinsight4u]

Also the parables of the seeds that fell upon each different ground (see also Matt 7:13-14 and 21-23) to show them that not all who claim to be christian, are chirstian. We know them by their fruits, right?

Good idea!

 

[KyleSpringer]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

You can’t. You can only show them Christ in you, and show them what a Christian ought to look like.

When you witness to people, you have to make it known that even amidst those kinds of assumptions, you still choose to serve your God with your whole heart because of who He is, and that doesn’t change just because of the people who do err.

 

[archer75]

To be honest, in my experience, there is plenty of rank hypocrisy coming from Christians. And it can be obnoxious. I would just agree that it can be really bad and go from there. Or ask what specific things they mean.

 

[JICS]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God" is what He tells us, so I would think part of that is that 100% of us are hypocrites to one degree or another about one thing or another. My observations lead me to believe that it is those who are resisting God who choose to see the rest of us as hypocrites; they are afraid to commit their lives to Him and use the rest of us "failed" Saints as an excuse to not try. My observation and thought. It's a good situation for turning the other cheek and loving our enemies since those individuals have chosen to be our enemies as well as God's instead of getting to know and love Him and us the way He tells us we should. Always easy? No. Always necessary? For me it is. Another "only God knows" for sure situation.

 

[JICS]

I'm not better than another Christian or even a hypocrite because any good that I've done or do is the result of God working in me.

Congratulations! I've helped others see the truth about LDS and JWs and Islam and some of the other cults people fall into in their search for the One God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A lot of really nice and humble and decent people fall into Satan's clutches via cults, there being hundreds of them all trying to keep us away from God.

 

[redleghunter]

When sharing the faith every so often as we are called to do it can't be uncommon to encounter the phrase "I'm not a Christian because all Christians are hypocrites" or something similar.

How do you refocus the conversation away from negativity and back on promoting the gospel in a positive way?

For myself, I have to nod and agree and respect that they feel this way before going on about my own experience with the gospel and how it's completely changed my life, hoping that they will respect in kind.

How do you demonstrate to acquaintances that Christians aren't all hypocrites?

By them calling Christians hypocrites are they not being hypocritical?

Sorry that line of logic just did not escape me.

 

[friend of]

By them calling Christians hypocrites are they not being hypocritical?

Realistically yes, since all are sinners. But I cant really share Christ with a non-Christian by going up to them and saying:

Me: "Hi, I'm a Christian. What do you think about Christianity?"

Them: "I think Christian's are hypocritics"

Me: "WELL SO ARE YOU

........

Please think about accepting Jesus as your savior BYE"

Lol